Comments on: ComputerWebstore—avoid them!

By: TonyQ

TonyQ — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:51:40 +0000

Without boring everyone with the specific details of my case, I've had a generally similar experience to most of you. Funds (£400+) taken from credit card, goods 'out of stock', order cancelled, refund promised again and again. Eventually e-mails no longer answered.

Matter passed to my bank who were very helpful and professional and after allowing the mandatory 30 days to pass, from date refund was first promised, they have now recredited me and charged the amount back to to CWS bankers.

These ****holes are little better than common criminals and they deserve to be driven out of business.

Although it will probably be a waste of time, I fully intend to make sure their name passes over the desk at Trading Standards and the local police.

If you have surfed into this thread looking for background on Computerwebstore, do not have any dealings with them. You WILL live to regret it, if you do.

By: Laura

Laura — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:51:21 +0000

Right…I’ve finally got my money back - FINALLY - after a month and a half of waiting! [Nearly 2 months of waiting infact...] I thought I would share details of how I did this for all of you people that are still waiting for a refund. [Although this will only work in principle if your order was over £100 and bought on your credit card]

1) Keep emailing computerwebstore pestering them
2) When you receive no reply [you're already in this stage] email them a semi-threatening letter stating you will inform trading standards, consumer direct, and your bank of this “fraudulent” transaction and legal action will be taken
3)Call Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06 and tell them what’s happened/register as a case. They will give you explicit advice on the letter you need to write to your credit card company to get this money back, arming you with information on the various laws that protect you and infact, they write the letter for you giving you a word by word body of text for your letter.
4) Call your bank and ask them what address you need to send the letter to
5) Print two copies of the letter [one for yourself, one for the bank] and send one copy recorded delivery to your bank with a covering letter [Consumer Direct will advise you on the contents of this too]
6) Await a response
7) The response is normally another letter from your bank asking you to write a detailed letter surrounding the transaction and for any receipts etc that backs up your purchase. Send this off, again recorded delivery and keep a copy [but by law they have to refund your money within 30 days under a certain regulation such as the distance selling reg or something - ask consumer direct] If in the meantime you haven’t heard back from Computerwebstore [which I did in the end], await a response again, and perhaps even call Consumer direct again for further advice…

By this time in the process I had gotten my money back…if anyone else has anything else to add, do let me know. I have reported the website to Watchdog in hope they will pick this up. I have added in the link to this blog too as an affirmation of the height of the problem. I cannot believe there are so many people out of pocket! something needs to happen!

By: BigLes

BigLes — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 11:42:46 +0000

I’ve had a similar experience with Computerwebstore, however I pursued them regarding the retrieval of my VAT from the inland revenue. I found that as soon as I included the fraud reporting address of HMRC (HM Revenue & Customs) as a CC on my correspondence they seemed to refund me quickly. I also included the text “I believe this company may be operating a Missing Trader Intra Community (Carousel) Fraud or other fraud”. Along with information from the “companies house” website.
I received a personal Cheque from R Perry (on behalf of Computerwebstore) from the companies account with Barclays, Liverpool Water St Branch (sort code 20-51-01). Their account number is 30079928. I would suggest that as many disgruntled customers contact the bank, they may well cut ties with them as it may be bad publicity for this company that IS operating a scam.

By: LAURA

LAURA — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 08:44:27 +0000

As per above, sorry that should read the 7th of July…not the 5th of July

By: LAURA

LAURA — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 08:43:51 +0000

Iam furious - I have had exactly the same experience. I originally ordered the camera on the 30th of June, and 7 days later I still hadn’t received the product and so I enquired as to its whereabouts. Then I received an error message from the store on the 5th of July saying my credit card expired and the order could not be processed. Funny, I thought, seeing as they had already taken my money and the transaction could be seen on the credit card statement online. So I obviously questionned it. Then on the 8th of July they said the message wasnt for me but the camera I had ordered had been discontinued. That’s all they said! They didn’t ask me if I wanted a refund or even if I wanted the new version. So, furious at this point, I replied back and asked for a refund because I could not believe the poor service I was receiving and I had completely lost trust after false promises and error messages. Then a whole WEEK later - on the 14th of July - they actually decided to reply saying yes you can have a refund, “do you not want the 300 version”? Obviously, I replied back saying no and requesting a refund again. Then on the 17th of July I received an email saying “Hello your order has now been cancelled and a refund will follow shortly.” It is now the 1st of August and I still have no refund. I have sent many more emails to enquire about the status of my refund with guess what…no reply! There’s no phone number to call them and question their actions, and so I feel completely lost as to what to do! I am looking to take the matter further, and like most others, I cannot believe trading standards haven’t stepped in and stopped them trading what with all of these complaints! This is something Watchdog should be looking at. My theory is they’re taking people’s money for products they don’t really have, holding it and making money out of it and then giving it back to people…

By: Elektra

Elektra — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 22:07:54 +0000

Purchased a mp3 player from them May ‘08 which was faulty. After emailing them telling them it was faulty i got this reply quote “Hello have you managed to sort the problem or does the item need to be replaced?” doh really inspires confidence. Anyway i tell them yes its still faulty and eventially they agree to a replacement. I return the faulty player to them recorded delievery and thats the last i have heard. Emailed them on numerous occasions asking about the replacement they offered no i have asked for my money back - no response.
Looks like im procedding down the legal path with this lot. Does anybodody know if this contact information is still relevent ?.

Contacts for Computerwebstore

HOWARD STEVEN PERRY Owner formerly HSP Global
356 WATERLOO QUAY
WATERLOO ROAD
LIVERPOOL
L3 0BT
TEL: 0151 227 9278

ANTHONY EDWARD PERRY Partner
16 OVERCHURCH ROAD
WIRRAL MERSEYSIDE
CH49 4LR

By: Peter Wurm

Peter Wurm — Fri, 30 May 2008 23:06:09 +0000

Ssame experience. Laser printer ordered in January 2008. Not deliverd and informed after several e-mails that the product is out of stock. Replacement product declined [obviously].

Request for refund ignored for 1 month. Several empty promises to refund today, tomorrow, next week. Two months later [end of May], after informing Consumer Direct [who in turn informed Merseyside police] finally a refund- 4 months after taking funds from my credit card.

Completely unacceptable service bordering on criminal practice.

By: Simon Dukes

Simon Dukes — Tue, 27 May 2008 05:31:13 +0000

My God, I thought i would check these guys out as have not seen them before and am glad i did, was going to order a mp3 player from them but not now!

I hope you all get your issues resolved with these cowboys

Good Luck

By: Babber

Babber — Fri, 23 May 2008 12:44:21 +0000

Ordered a Sandisk Sansa from computerwebstore on Tuesday as it was £20 cheaper than anywhere else. Read these posts on Wednesday and wished I hadn’t. Item arrived on Thursday and works fine. Happy days.

By: vidchick

vidchick — Fri, 02 May 2008 20:09:24 +0000

AArgghh…just found this and another review site - AFTER I ordered a, luckily small, item from them. Same story - ordered on 9 March, money taken immediately, website stated ‘in stock’. Confirmation email arrived immediately stating 3 days delivery time. Needless to say, nothing arrived and my first email to them went unanswered. Second one they said it would be coming into stock soon (?) and be dispatched as soon as. Two weeks later another email from me chasing them up, threatening to cancel the order if they didn’t deliver within a week. They answered it would be in stock next week and delivered within that week. That was 15 April.

Needless to say, I still have not received the item and another email to them sent yesterday remains unanswered. I wonder if there is any point canceling, as I probably won’t get my money back anyway. Which is exactly what they’re banking on, I assume. But as the amount is under £100, I’m not covered under the consumer credit act. +sigh+

So, just to recap:

DO.
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NOT.
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USE.
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THEM.
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EVER.